Adventures in Fourth Grade!
by lnvaderZlM
Summary: Finally! After what seemed like 195 episodes and 3 specials spread across 18 years, Arthur and his friends were moving on to the fourth grade. But what new (or old :o) challenges await them?


**A/N: Hey! I actually forgot about this fic lol. It was just sitting on my hard drive, gathering dust, so I figured I'd share it with you guys. I think I stopped writing for it because I had no idea what to write about lol. And I'm not too familiar with most of the kids' personalities - just Fern, because I _like _Fern. I like all the characters, but Fern's just so cute and sweet lol. This one was sort of an "impulse" fic, if that makes sense. I read Arthur Goes Fourth (great fic, btw) and immediately wanted to write my own story about Arthur entering fourth grade. Without all the supernatural stuff, though. Just romance, life lessons, growing up, etc. **

**I had one more chapter, too. I'll probably post it after polishing it up.**

"See ya later, honey! Have a great first day!" Arthur's mom says as she drives off.

_Finally, _Arthur thought as he walked through the main doors. After what seemed like 195 episodes and 3 specials spread across 17 years, he was finally going to start fourth grade. He walked up to the school bulletin board, eager to see who his new teacher was.

Arthur scanned the class rosters looking for his name. Finally, he found it: _Class 4-B, Instructor: TBA_.

_TBA, huh? That's a funny name for a teacher._ he thought to himself. He looked at who his classmates would be. Sue Ellen, Shelley (Binky), Buster, Ladonna, Mary – to his surprise, it was the exact same class he had last year. _Weird_.

Arthur walked in and looked at the clock. 7:30, the hands read. He still had half an hour before class started. Fern and the Brain were chatting away near the front of the room. Arthur sat down at the desk next to them.

"Hi Arthur!" they said in unison.

"Hey guys. So who is this 'TBA' person anyway?"

"'TBA' stands for 'To Be Announced', Arthur. It means they're going to announce it later." Brain explained.

"I don't need them to announce it; I've already deduced who our teacher's going to be." Fern says mysteriously.

"Who?" both Brain and Arthur asked.

"Our new teacher will be…" Fern pauses for dramatic effect. Arthur and Brain lean in closer. "Mr. Ratburn!" Fern announces.

Arthur's felt a chill working its way up his spine, but then he started laughing.

"Ha! Good one, Fern. You almost got me."

"I'm serious, Arthur. All the clues point to us having another year of Ratburn."

"What clues?" Arthur started getting nervous.

"First, have you noticed that we have the exact same classmates as last year? That's way too big a coincidence. This has to have been arranged."

"Statistically speaking, the probability of us having the exact same 11-person class as last year out of 100 total people would be…" Brain put his hand on his chin, crunching the numbers. "About 1 in 1,416,298,040,000,00." he says, matter-of-factly.

"S-so! It could happen!" said Arthur, unconfidently.

"Second, I checked the other rosters. Mr. Ratburn's name was nowhere to be found." Fern continued. "And we were the only class whose instructor hasn't been confirmed yet."

"Maybe he quit!"

"Nope. I saw him with his briefcase before school. He waved at me." said Brain.

"And the last clue…" said Fern.

"What? What is it?" Arthur buried his face in his hands. He was ready to scream in despair.

Fern said nothing. She just smirked and gestured for the boys to turn around.

They did, and to Arthur's horror, they saw…_Ratburn_!

"Hello Arthur. Alan. Fern." greeted Mr. Ratburn, acknowledging each of them in turn.

That did it for Arthur. He couldn't hold his scream in any longer.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Good morning, Mr. Ratburn!" Fern and Brain returned the greeting.

"Tell them it isn't true!" Arthur yelled desperately. "You're just here to say goodbye, right?"

"Goodbye? But fourth grade is just about to begin!" replied Mr. Ratburn.

"So you're really going to be our teacher…?"

Mr. Ratburn nodded. "Our class had amazing test scores, and I knew it was because you kids worked so well together. So I pulled some strings and had you all placed in the same class – _my class."_

_"_And the school board just agreed to this?"

"Yes. It's complicated. It's…it has to do with money. You see, the better the kids do, the more money the school gets from the government." he explained. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to organize my own desk."

Mr. Ratburn went to his desk to set up for the day. Brain and Fern continued chatting about their summer vacation, but Arthur was in no mood to join them. He put his head down on his desk and wished for the day to be over already.

Before long, the 7:55 bell rang, notifying students to head to class. Arthur looked up; he wanted to see how his friends would react to seeing Ratburn at the teacher's desk.

Francine and Muffy were the first ones to arrive. They both let out a huge gasp, double checked the room number, then shuffled in awkwardly, sitting in the back row.

Buster was next – he nearly choked on the carrot he was chewing on.

"Oh no!" he cried. "Mr. Ratburn's evil twin! Or…maybe he's the good twin? The one that doesn't give homework?"

"Welcome, welcome, Buster! Don't be silly, there will be plenty of homework this year as well!" he replied.

Buster looked as if all the air had been sucked out of him. He whipped out his inhaler and took a few breaths as he sat next to Arthur.

Jenna, Sue Ellen, George, and Ladonna's entrances weren't too dramatic. A few surprised looks, but that was it. And then Binky came in.

"Woohoo! Finally, no more Ratbu-" his happiness turned into shock, realization, and finally, despair.

"Uh, hi Mr. Ratburn. Where's our _new _teacher?"

"Hello, Mr. Barnes. _I'm_ going to be your fourth grade teacher, now hurry up and take your seat so I can give you your _first_ assignment of the school year!" he says excitedly, as though he thought his students _enjoyed _doing work.

An assignment on the _first _day of school?

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" cried Binky.

* * *

It took a few minutes for the class to settle from the shock of being told they'd have to endure Ratburn for another year. It's not that he's a bad person – quite the opposite, in fact. The kids liked him. It's his teaching style they didn't like. He gives a _lot _of homework. Having two projects in one week was not uncommon last year, and a day _without _homework was unheard of.

"Hello, class. My name is Mr. Ratburn, and I will be your teacher for the next year. No need for formal introductions, as you should already be acquainted with me. Everything will essentially be the same as last year, though the homework will be more difficult and numerous than before."

A loud group groan echoed the room.

"Before we start the assignment, organize your desks into groups of four, just like last year. You'll be arranged alphabetically. That means Sue Ellen, Binky, Buster, and Ladonna will form one square; Muffy, Francine, George, and Jenna will form another; and Alan, Arthur, and Fern will form the third."

Everyone gathered their things and moved to their assigned seats. Ladonna instantly started telling her table a story about how her great aunt Jessie once "wrassled" an alligator. Francine, Muffy, and Jenna were talking about girly things as George looked immensely uncomfortable. Fern began telling Brain about the new season of _Junior Island_; Brain looked uninterested, but she knew he would be looking the episodes up online as soon as he got home. Arthur just sighed and looked over at Buster, laughing at Ladonna's story.

_Great, _he thought. _First I get Ratburn again, and now I don't even get to sit next to Buster! This year's gonna be awful!_

"Settle down, class." Mr. Ratburn said. "Now, look at the person sitting next to you." They did as they were told. "Your first assignment of the year is to learn what that person did over the summer, and then present it to the class. You'll have an hour to do so. Any questions?"

"Um, I don't have a partner!" Arthur called out.

"I'm well aware of that, Arthur. _I'll _be your partner." Arthur looked as though he had been given the death penalty. "Any other questions?"

Silence.

"Okay, let's begin!"

The room buzzed with five different conversations about summer activities. Mr. Ratburn took a seat next to Arthur.

"Okay, Arthur, would you like to go first?"

Arthur sighed. "This summer my family and I went to Washington D.C for two weeks. We saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and even went on a tour of the White House. That's pretty much the only interesting thing I did this summer."

Arthur waited for his teacher's response. He could already imagine it.

* * *

_That's it? _Mr. Ratburn bellows. _That's _all _you did this summer? You get an F-minus for this assignment, Mr. Read!_

Mr. Ratburn hits a button under his desk, flinging Arthur out the window and straight into the juvenile detention center.

_Muahahahaha!_

* * *

"Arthur? Is everything all right?" Mr. Ratburn's comment wakes him from his little fantasy.

"O-oh, yeah, I'm fine. Did I fail?"

"Of course not, Arthur! You had a very interesting summer. Now, would you like to hear about _my _summer?"

Arthur nodded, grateful that he had passed but dreading the idea of listening to his teacher talk about what he did over summer break for an hour. He knew it was going to be boring.

"Well, this summer…"

Before long, the hour was over. Arthur's eyes were wide as saucers as he listened intently to Mr. Ratburn's amazing summer.

"…and I just got back yesterday. That's what I did over the summer."

Arthur couldn't help but applaud. "That's so _cool_!" he said reverently.

Mr. Ratburn waved off the applause and stood to address the class. "Time's up! Time to present. Let's start with you, Sue Ellen and Binky."

"Okay." Sue Ellen began. "This is Binky. This summer, he had two clarinet recitals, a ballet recital, and rode his bike a lot. And most importantly, his baby sister took her first steps! Thank you."

Binky introduced Sue Ellen next. "This is Sue Ellen. This summer she visited Daramalada…"

"_Dharamsala_" Sue Ellen whispers.

"She visited _India_," Binky finally said. "She visited her friend Tenzin in _India. _This was the first time they met in person, but they wrote letters to each other before. They got a long really well. That is all."

Next were Ladonna and Buster. Ladonna decided to go first.

"This here's Buster." she says with her southern accent. "His dad's a pilot. They flew to Hawaii and learned the hula and the ukulele and surfed and ate poi and…" The list went on for about five minutes before Mr. Ratburn cut in.

"Ladonna, that all sounds very interesting, but we're running out of time."

"…and hiked up some head made of diamond and met King Kamehameha and paddled a canoe. Thank you!" she quickly finished.

"This is Ladonna. This summer she visited her old friends in Louisiana. Her best friend Lou Anne gave her a neat looking shell that…that…what did it do again?"

"This shell's the coolest thing ever!" Ladonna explained. "You put your ear up to it and it sings to you! The thing must've come straight from Atlantis. And you know what else…"

Mr. Ratburn cut her short. "Ladonna, _Buster _is supposed to be explaining this to us."

"Sorry," she let Buster continue.

"Um, oh! And before she came back, all her old classmates and even her teacher threw her a party! Thank you."

"Interesting. Let's have Muffy and Francine go next." Mr. Ratburn said.

"Ahem." Muffy started. "This is Francine. This summer, she went to soccer camp to brush up on her soccer skills. She spent her whole summer there. How boring!" Muffy said.

"This is Muffy," Francine said, slightly annoyed at her _friend_. "This summer she went to Rome. That's all."

"Wait, you forgot about all the shoes I bought!"

Francine just sat down heavily. Muffy sighed.

"_It's not my fault your summer was lame,_" Muffy whispered.

"What was that?"

"Oh, _nothing."_

"Well then. George and Jenna, you're up next!"

"Um, this is Jenna," George started. "This summer she spent most of her time at the skating rink, practicing her figure skating. She even helped teach a class on figure skating. When she wasn't figure skating, she was playing badminton. Thanks."

"This is George. This summer, he built a few friends for his dummy, Wally!"

"Hey, who're you callin' a dummy, dummy?" George (as Wally) said. The class chuckled.

"He named them Benny, Tammy, and Jimmy!" Jenna continued, motioning to an elephant, a female giraffe, and a mouse.

"Very nice. Okay, Alan and Fern."

"This is Fern. This summer, she convinced her parents to take a trip to Paris. She mostly just wanted inspiration for her latest Oiteau story, where the Gray Dove steals the Eiffel Tower by shrinking it down and taking it, which is impossible according to the laws of quantum physics, and besides, if it _were _possible to-"

"_Brain!_" Fern angrily interrupted him. She didn't want him to ruin another one of her stories with his "science".

Brain sighed. "Anyway, even though she just went for inspiration, she had a lot of fun seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, and eating at fancy French restaraunts. Then, when she got back, her story got featured on _Junior Detective Digest_. Her dad also taught her a bit of programming, and she is now working on turning her Oiteau stories into 'Choose Your Own Adventure' games. Thank you."

Fern went next. "_This _is Alan, better known as 'The Brain'. This summer, he entered a science contest and won first prize for his working model rocket. The rest of his time was mostly spent helping out at his parents' ice cream shop, because it gets really busy during the hot summers. Thanks."

"Very interesting. And now it's our turn, Arthur. I'll go first. This is Arthur Read. This summer, he visited Washington D.C. and saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, and went on a tour of the White House. Thank you."

Next was Arthur. "This is Mr. Ratburn. He spent most of the summer filming for the new Bionic Bunny movie that's coming out this Fall, _Bunny of Iron_!"

The kids audibly show their admiration.

"Wow! I know a movie star!" Francine says dreamily.

"How does the movie end?! Does Bionic Bunny win? Does Dark Bunny make an appearance?" Buster asked excitedly.

"Got any tips for a rising star?" Fern asked, being an actor herself. In fact, she and Mr. Ratburn acted in the same play!

Muffy stood up and shook Mr. Ratburn's hand. "Muffy Crosswire here, I'm going to be your manager. No need to thank me, not in words, anyway. I'll be taking 60% of the money, since it's way more work managing your career than just reciting lines on a script. I'll be bringing some costumes and a camera for you tomorrow – what are your measurements?"

"Settle down, class, let him finish. Buster, I can't spoil the movie, you'll have to wait 'til you see it. Fern, just audition, and keep auditioning until you get a part; getting rejected doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad actor, it could just be you weren't right for the part, so don't feel bad if that happens. Muffy, I don't need an agent. This was a one-time thing. Now, go on, Arthur." Mr. Ratburn said.

"He's playing Commander Jad, who is Bionic Bunny's older brother." Arthur continued. "He's also bionic, and has more experience with his powers than his younger brother. The movie's going to revolve around Bionic Bunny's origins, and Jad's attempt to conquer the world. He filmed a ton of fight scenes, and got to wear a cool costume. Best of all, he's agreed to take us to the special advance screening next week!" Arthur said proudly.

The class cheered.

_"But, _you'll have to write a five page report on themes presented in the movie." Mr. Ratburn warned.

They didn't care, this was the most hyped movie of the year, and _they _were going to get to see it before everyone else! A five page report is a small price to pay for such a privilege.

Just then, the lunch bell rang. The children filed out of the classroom, buzzing about the announcement that they would be among the first in the world to see the new Bionic Bunny movie. They no longer regretted that they would have Ratburn again.

"Wow, Ratburn's so cool!"

"Lois Hare's clothes are apparently going to be the latest fashion trend. _I'll _be the judge of that!"

"Woohoo! A five page report! I can't wait to start on it!"

_Maybe this year won't be so bad…_ Arthur thought.


End file.
